My trials and travails researching my mother's family history in West Cork.
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4) Some of the indexing is atrocious and causes more problems. Think about how your ancestor's name might have been misindexed. For example, I found some confusion between Humphry/Morty. I then thought Humphry could have been misindexed as Murphy and thus found more men named Humphry. Last night I found a Humphrey indexed as "Helen." I am not joking. Remember, these records were indexed by people who did not necessarily know the families in the locality you are searching.

It almost goes without saying that if your name is Regan or Reagan you must check Ryan and vice versa.

5) Surnames are not as automatically cross-referenced as I would like. I cannot get boolean expressions to match for surnames but wildcards seem to work. Col* will turn up Collins, Coleman, etc.

6) Some townland names are hardly recognizable any more or grossly misspelled/misunderstood. I hope you are equipped with a good gazetteer or atlas or map. Once you crack a few mistranscribed townlands, the records will get easier to read.

7) I repeat, look at the images. Get your eyes acclimated to the syntax of the church records. Look at lots of records.

My husband joked that there were a lot of women named "Hillary" in Ireland when what we were looking at was a phrase starting with "& Mary " .

Here's another example:
[child's Christian name] of [father's name] & [mother's name]
The "of" gets mistaken as a final "h" on the child's name - then the child's name may be transcribed incorrectly as Jeremiah or Johannah or something that ends with h.

Similarly, the abbreviation Pr (presence of) has been misread as the initial R.

9) Some parishes have records that start relatively late and some information remains forever lost. There are multiple Skibbereen parish entities. From my earlier post - according to Skibbereen Heritage, Skibbereen & Rath were one parish until 1851. What is listed as Creagh & Sullon are the baptism records of this combined parish and then Skibbereen after 1851. Baptism and marriage records of Rath post 1851 are under Rath & Islands. Skibbereen & Rath start listing marriages in 1837.

10) If you think a record ought to be there and it isn't, make sure you review your assumptions about where your ancestors were at a given point in time and you have some other proof or basis for assuming they were in a specific location.

11) Priests transposed names into the wrong fields, and indexers may have picked up names off what is immediately preceding a record. There are all sorts of ways errors can be made.

12) The date in the index can be off. Check the entire page for the record, not just under the date the record is indexed by.

I have gotten a few date transpose errors from what I have obtained from other means.

13) Watch out for records that have been erroneously overwritten by a well-meaning transcriber from times past. An overwritten record in my Grandmom's family has been a major cause of confusion in my family for literally decades; there is something screwy about the way it is indexed at Skibbereen Heritage; and it has even caused confusion for other researchers outside the family. Daniel was overwritten with Denis. As a result, some in my family weren't sure what the first name of Grandmom's grandfather was.

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I'm still working on finding everything online that Skibbereen Heritage has found for me and I haven't come close to finding everything yet.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

So the big bombshell coming out of the release of additional Cork church records is that in my Granddad's side of the family there were multiple Humphreys in the Skibbereen area in the 1820's - 1840's. The majority of Humphrey Collins occurrences are out of Caheragh RC parish.

This really shouldn't be a surprise given that my uncle Humpsey had three similarly-named cousins of the same generation in school with him at the same time.

Before I get into searching for Humphrey Collinses in Caheragh, I thought I would mention this tip about searching the church records. The first name field can take a large boolean expression or a wild card - within limits.

If you want to search for John, enter: (Jn or Jno or John or Jon or Johannes or Joannes or Joannim or Johannam)

If you want to search for men named Morty, you can enter Mor*.

As far as I can tell, the first name field does not take a union of two wild card results. For example, if I want to search Hum* or Um* as a boolean expression, it doesn't work that way; however (Hum* or Ump*), with a minimum of three letters, may work.

Now the problem with Humphrey is that name - really any name - can be mistranscribed. I suspect a Morty Collins is really a Humphrey, and I also found a few occurrences of Murphy Collinses who are Humphreys.

When Skibbereen Heritage originally looked for my gg-grandfather Michael Collins, born about 1822, they were unable to locate a baptism record for a Michael son of Humphrey Collins and Johanna Barnane. And they probably searched Drimoleague & Drinagh as well. Humphrey and Johanna were married in early 1820 - though that marriage record has its problems - and the first child Catherine was born in December of that year - and that birth record has a few problems too. Then nothing until son John was born 1824.

So there is certainly a convenient slot for my gg-grandfather, whose birth year I estimated from the 1901 census. If he and his wife Ellen Driscoll were "old school" in the way they named their children, their first daughter might have been named after the paternal grandmother. That also fits, as daughter Johanna was born 1856. Ellen's mother was Margaret Loony.

Then the additional church records came online and I took a shot at searching for a baptism record for Michael and found one - born to a Humphry Collins and Ellen Sweeny in September 1822, and it looks like they were staying in Blue Hill (Knockgorm) at the time.

I went to Skibb Heritage and was told their records had that indexed as Morty. So I went on a fishing expedition and collected several handwriting samples and compared them. In the image below, the entry labeled 1822 in the left column was indexed as Morty at Skibb Heritage and Umpy on the church record site. The rest in the left column are indexed at the church record site as Humphry, Umpy, or Umphry or similar. The entries in the right-hand side are from Morty Hourihanes in Caheragh about the same time (so presumably handwritten by the same priests).

I think Morty is Umpy. And I can't dismiss this as some fluke or mistake. There is no other Michael born to a Humphry Collins. A Catherine Sweeny showed up at the wedding of Michael Collins and Ellen Driscoll in 1854. In fact, that Catherine Sweeny may have married just five days before to a Hourihane from Tooreen. Could Catherine Sweeny have been a cousin or aunt to Michael?

And then there's my DNA. I have a decent Family Finder match to somebody with Sweeny in his list of names. So far I haven't heard anything in response to my inquiries.

The online records have just opened up a whole new set of questions. There are no more records for Ellen Sweeny with this Morty/Umpy Collins. However, there is an Ellen Sweeny with a Denis Collins in Knockgorm shortly after, and they had several children.

The imagination can run wild here. I have not seen church records state whether parents are dead or alive. Could Morty/Umpy have been deceased and could Ellen Sweeny have remarried?

To get a better handle on the Humphrey Collinses running around, I decided to construct a timeline of sorts:

Where's Humphrey Collins?

Date

RC Parish

Event

Description

Spouse/companion

1820-Feb-15

D & D

marriage

Humphrey Collins & "Mary" Bernard(1)

1820-Jul-12

Caheragh

baptism

Anne Barrett

sponsor Humphry Collins

1820-Dec-02

Caheragh

baptism

Catherine Collins

parents Humphry Collins(2) Johanna Bernard

1820-Dec-17

Caheragh

baptism

Cornelius Keohane

Humphry Collins sponsor

1822-Sep-08

Caheragh

baptism

Michael Collins

parents Humphrey Collins(3), Ellen Sweeny

1824-May-18

Caheragh

baptism

John Collins

parents Humphry Collins, Johanna Barnane

1826-Feb-04

Caheragh

marriage

Charles Brien & Mary Collins

Humphry Collins & Mary Brien witness

1827-Sep-02

Caheragh

baptism

Mary Collins

parents Humphry Collins, Johanna Barnane

1828-Sep-20

D & D

baptism

Joan Mangan

mother Mary Collins, Humphry Collins sponsor

1829-Dec-13

Caheragh

baptism

Nory Collins

parents Humphry Collins, Johanna Barnane

1830-Mar-19

Caheragh

baptism

Pat Crimeen

Humphry Collins sponsor

1830-Oct-01

Caheragh

baptism

Catherine Minihane

Humphry Collins sponsor

1831-Aug-01

Caheragh

baptism

Humphrey Collins

parents Michael Collins & Mary Donovan

1831-Aug-24

Caheragh

baptism

Denis Carthy

Humphry Collins sponsor

1832-Jan-20

Caheragh

baptism

Bridget Bary

Umphy Collins sponsor

1833-Feb-19

Caheragh

marriage

John Casey & Catherine Burke

Humphry & Michael Collins witness

1833-Feb-19

D & D

marriage

Cornelius Hourihan & Honora Casey

Humphry Collins witness

1833-Aug-07

Caheragh

baptism

James Collins

parents Humphry Collins, Johanna Barnane

1833-Oct-24

Caheragh

baptism

Jerry Coakley

Humphry Collins sponsor

1835-Dec-07

Caheragh

baptism

Johanna Collins

parents Humphry Collins, Johanna Barnane

1836-Dec-27

Skibbereen

baptism

John Collins

parents Humphry Collins, Mary Galvin

1838-Sep-16

Skibbereen

baptism

Margaret Collins

parents Humphry Collins, Mary Galvin

1839-Feb-05

Skibb & Rath

marriage

John Collins & Margaret Donovan

Humphry Collins witness

1839-Mar-14

Caheragh

baptism

Pat Collins

parents Humphry Collins, Ja(o)ne Barrett(4)

1840-Mar-25

Caheragh

baptism

Pat Coakly

Humphrey Collins sponsor

1841-Jan-19

Skibbereen

baptism

Mary Collins

parents Humphry Collins, Mary Brien

1843-Apr-02

Skibbereen

baptism

Johanna Collins

parents Humphry Collins, Mary Brien

1845-Oct-23

Skibbereen

baptism

Jerry Collins

parents Humphry Collins, Mary Collins

1846-Jan

Caheragh

baptism

Pat Cadigan

sponsors Humphry Collins, Johanna Bernard(5)

1851-Mar-01

Caheragh

marriage

Catherine Collins & Denis Donovan

Humphry Collins & Honora Collins witness

1854-Feb-28

Caheragh

marriage

Michael Collins & Ellen Driscoll

Humphrey Collins, Catherine Sweeny witness

1858-Jan-23

Caheragh

marriage

John Collins & Ellen McCarthy

Humphry Collins witness

1858-Jan-29

Caheragh

baptism

Humphry Collins

Humphry Collins sponsor; Michael Collins & Ellen Driscoll parents

1858-Nov-19

Caheragh

baptism

Humphry(7) Collins

John Collins & Ellen McCarthy parents

1861-Aug-24

Caheragh

baptism

Humphrey(8) Collins

Denis Collins & Margaret Mahony parents

1862-Mar-04

Skib & Rath

marriage

James Collins & Catherine Driscoll

Humphry Collins witness

1863-Apr-22

Kilmacabea

baptism

Humphry Collins

son of a Jerry?

1873-Apr-17

Caheragh

death

Humphrey Collins, age 88

Humphrey Collins present at death (left mark)

1873-May-28

Caheragh

baptism

Timothy Collins

Humphry Collins sponsor

1875-Nov-07

D&D

baptism

Humphry Collins(6)

parents Patrick Collins,Catherine Collins

1879-May-14

Skibbereen

baptism

Denis Collins

Humphrey Collins, sponsor

1 - Skibb Heritage was of the opinion the priest made an error and this should have been Johanna.

2 - Another error - father is recorded as John and baptism sponsor Humphry.

3 - Probably my direct ancestral line.

4 - There is no confusion between Barrett and Barnane. The handwriting of Barrett is clear, and there were Barretts in Lissane. However, I haven't dug up a marriage record for a Humphrey Collins and a Jane/Joan Barrett, which makes me wonder if the priest was hard of hearing or what!

5 - Johanna Barnane was alive as late as 1846, which means that her husband couldn't have been married to Mary Galvin or Brien at the same time - therefore there was at least one other Humphry!

6 - Indexed as Helen!

7 - Whoever indexed this entry gave up entirely on the first name and just left it blank.

8 - The father Denis *could* have been the son of Michael Collins and Mary Donovan of Lissane Lower. This couple had a son named Humphrey in 1831. But there is no baptism record of Denis.

I can't figure out what was going on in 1833. Humphry went to two different Casey weddings on the same day?!? In fact his calendar was so full in 1833 it makes me wonder if he had time to farm.

Caheragh records start in mid-1818; Drimoleague & Drinagh mid-1817. Now, what about Skibbereen records? There are multiple Skibbereen parish entities. According to Skibbereen Heritage, Skibbereen & Rath were one parish until 1851. What is listed as Creagh & Sullon are the baptism records of this combined parish and then Skibbereen after 1851. Baptism and marriage records of Rath post 1851 are under Rath & Islands. Skibbereen & Rath start listing marriages in 1837.

Given that Mary Galvin and Mary Brien were baptizing their children in Skibbereen and not Caheragh, this information leads me to conclude that their marriage records fall out of range, so that information is forever lost.

I am curious about the names Galvin and Mangane. There are a few Galvins here and there. Mangane is rather uncommon. I get the feeling these names could be agnomens for another name. Brien, perhaps?

Ultimately, I am going to have to view every single image to decide for myself if the transcriptions are correct and if my assumptions are correct.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Today the government of Ireland released the remainder of what it had intended to release of the south Cork church records. Thanks to this effort I have new insights on my Grandmom's Collinses, I believe I have a more conclusive link to the Mahonys in Bredagh, and I have discovered a bombshell in the Humphrey Collinses of Lissane, which really is just another insight.

First, some words about these church records. I can now better understand the delay for releasing them. The illegibility of some of these records made indexing and computerization very difficult, and no doubt there are substantial errors. In my own family I have discovered a number of errors already. Therefore, I encourage anybody reading this to take the time to browse the records, and to be very flexible with your searches. When new information becomes available one has to be ready to throw out some old assumptions.

Second, here's a little trick when searching for Christian names in the church records. You can build a search string as a large boolean expression. For example, to search for a woman named Catherine Neil, enter the following string into the name field:

(Cathe or Cath or Catherine or Catharine or Kath or Katherine or Kate or Kattie or Katy or Katty) Neil

The software engine is normally pretty good at cross-indexing surname variants. But not always. Again, I highly recommend browsing. And take a good look at the images, because there could be errors in the index. One day while browsing Skibbereen I noticed somebody with the surname Neil with something like Sheehy appended to it, as if Sheehy were a local nickname. That wasn't in the text index. You just never know what you'll find.

If you are researching south Cork like I am, read Nora Hickey's article, "What's in a Name?" Unfortunately, the website originally hosting this article has taken it offline, and you will be directed to the Internet archive. When you get to the archive, make a backup copy of it on your own computer to reference.

The article talks about some of the odd south Cork locality-specific secondary names you may be struggling with while researching your ancestry.

Thank God these records are finally online. It is better to have these illegible records with their dark smudgy illegible handwriting and indexing errors than to not have them at all.